Real Pro Wrestling on striking v grappling, sport v. street, and MMA

So I'm watching RPW yesterday... If you're not familiar with RPW check here: http://www.realprowrestling.com/ It's basically freestyle wrestling with a few minor upgrades (very minor, mostly having to do with the presentation).

Anyway, they give a little montage where they talk about the usefullness of wrestling. During the "lesson" they mention several things including... The military trains wrestling. Unlike striking arts where you stand in front of your opponent and "duke it out", wrestling uses angles, and your opponents force/momentum to get behind them and/or take them to the ground. Once you have someone on their back and have "grounded" them (yes they actually used the words in quotes), then you can "pound" them. (During this they show guys in MMA gear executing ground and pound training.) Wrestling takes these basic combat skills and makes them safe for training and competition by stopping the action once a "dominant position" is gained, like the pin.

Heh. I thought it was pretty cool. Even though some of the arguments are a bit cliche'd, I found it amusing that wrestlers were using the same arguments that many TMAers use against sport arts like wrestling. Turn about is fair play, I guess.

Also, though I love MMA and have managed to watch the last two seasons of TUF as well as just about every UFC since 58, I was astounded by how fast paced the actiion in Freestyle is compared to MMA. It was been a couple years since I wrestled, now, and I haven't really gotten to watch any of it. Wrestling is fast paced and exciting to watch, IMO. Too bad RPW is probably going to fold soon. A quick perusal of their website makes it look like they are struggling to get season 2 produced.

Don't get me wrong, MMA has a lot more to offer as a sport. And because it is "As Real As It Gets" (tm) it is better for a whole host of reasons. I just wanted to comment that wrestling is still pretty fun and exciting to watch. Especially because it is so fast paced.